M+RP Modern Modules
Latest Modern Module News
- Summary of the Twin Cities, MN Modern Module now available. Learn more »
- Summary of the inaugural Modern Module in Los Angeles, CA. Learn more »
What's a Modern Module?
The Modern Modules are part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s new Modernism + Recent Past program, launched earlier this year to increase public awareness and appreciation of our nation’s rich more recent built environment.
The Modules focus attention on places from the recent past, including Modern buildings and landscapes and other socially and culturally important post-war resources. The Modules are designed, in part, to gather the critical local input needed to advance a national discourse on this topic and build a network for preserving buildings, structures, and landscapes from the modern era and the recent past.
These two-day events held in cities across the country will kick off with a free, public panel discussion designed to explore and embrace an area’s post-WWII cultural heritage, followed with a invitational roundtable conversation of leading‑edge topics in the field of preserving modern and recent past places. The Modules include production of a full-color, sixteen-page booklet highlighting significant modern and recent past resources in the community and production of a series of short films based on materials gathered at the two events.
“We conceive of the Modern Modules as conversation starters to build awareness and get more people thinking about the historic modern resources in their own communities,” said Christine Madrid French, director of the National Trust’s Modernism + Recent Past Program. “Cities, suburbs and small towns across the country are home to vast reserves of important places from our nation’s recent history – too often, these places are under-appreciated by the public and perhaps not on the radar screen of the mainstream preservation movement. The Modern Modules are a chance to re-frame public perceptions of modern and recent past places -- reminding local residents of the important buildings in their backyards, and sparking interest in preserving them.”
The National Trust for Historic Preservation Modernism + Recent Past Program’s Modern Module project is funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Henry Luce Foundation.
